The Ornithorhynchus is captured by the natives when in its burrow. They first examine the neighbourhood of the burrow, to ascertain, by the presence of recent footmarks on the soil, whether it is inhabited, and if the examination proves satisfactory, they proceed to dig holes with pieces of sticks from the surface of the ground into the burrow, at distances from each other, until they discover its termination, when the Australians consider themselves exceedingly fortunate should they find the young, since they are regarded as a great delicacy. The young have been found in their nests by Mr. Bennett about one inch and seven-eighths in length, in the early part of December, and near the end of the same month he found young Water Moles of ten inches in length. These latter were kept alive for nearly five weeks, and their habits whilst in captivity are described in detail in his paper, which is illustrated by some admirable figures, showing their various attitudes, &c. The young were allowed to run about the room; but an old Ornithorhynchus in the possession of our author was so restless, and damaged the walls of the room so much by her attempts at burrowing, that it was found necessary to confine her to the box. “During the day she would remain quiet, huddled up with her young ones; but at night she became very restless, and eager to escape. The little ones were as frolicsome as puppies, and apparently as fond of play; and many of their actions were not a little ludicrous. During the day they seemed to prefer a dark corner for repose, and generally resorted to the spot to which they had been accustomed, although they would change it on a sudden, apparently from mere caprice. They did not appear to like deep water, but enjoyed exceedingly a bathe in shallow water, with a turf of grass placed in one corner of the pan; they seldom remained longer than ten or fifteen minutes in the water at one time. Though apparently nocturnal, or at least preferring the cool and dusky evening to the glare and heat of noon, their movements in this respect were so irregular as to furnish no grounds for a definite conclusion. They slept much; and it frequently happened that one slept whilst the other was running about; and this occurred at almost all periods of the day. They climbed with great readiness to the summit of a book-case, and thus, by means of their strong cutaneous muscles and of their claws, mounting with much expedition to the top. Their food consisted of bread soaked in water, chopped eggs, and meat minced very small, and they did not seem to prefer milk to water.”